SUMMARIZING FOR MAIN IDEAS



SUMMARIZING FOR MAIN IDEAS (part one)

Helping students learn to summarize helps them comprehend and recall text information.  Students need to be taught how to summarize. 

Poor Summarizers:

· Tend to read over the assignment quickly and begin writing.

· Spend little time rereading and thinking about the selection before writing.

· Do not take notes or underline to organize their thoughts.

Expert Summarizers on the other hand continually monitor their reading and writing by checking the original to insure they were getting the gist of the passage.

STRATEGY ONE: Summarize Textbook and Nonfiction Materials:

 

Teacher Modeling:

· Begin by reviewing titles, bold faced headings, vocabulary, and illustrations. Remind them to notice transition words (e.g. first, second) that indicate main points. Note repeated ideas and clue phrases (the main point is . . ., most important).

· Make a prediction about what you think you and the students will learn from the selection.

· Read the selection and “think-aloud” to model your thinking process for sorting through main ideas and details.  Have students reread parts of the text as they assist you in taking notes on the board or overhead. Include key words from topic sentences that express main points of each paragraph.

· From your notes, continue to use the board or overhead to cluster the information and organize the ideas into logical groupings. (Cluster, or Spider charts).

· Write your summary.  As you write, cross out any information that does not seem important.  Be sure to verbalize your thoughts in terms of what to exclude or to retain.

 

Support: Summarize together or in small groups

· Have students read through the selection together underlining main ideas and details, or making word lists.

· Students then adapt their notes by crossing out unnecessary words or ideas to develop their summaries.

· After they convert their notes to summaries, ask each group or pair to present its summary to the class.

• It will take time for them to become totally independent; summary depends on the difficulty of the material. Start simple with well-written and familiar material and scaffold to more difficult text.

STRATEGY TWO: Sketch It:

Summarize during Shared or Guided Reading:

 

STRATEGY THREE: Magnet Summary:

Teacher Modeling:

“Just as magnets attract metal, magnet words attract information.” Read a short familiar passage aloud and pick out one or two words. On the overhead or board, show students how details in the text “attach” themselves to these magnet words.

Model how to combine these words into a summary.

|Incorporated 1831 Population 184,055 |

| |

|Little Rock |

| |

|105.4 Square Miles La Petite Roche |

Distribute sample word cards to students, as you continue to read, assist students with filling the four corners of their cards.

Help them create a one-sentence summary for each card.

Arrange the sentences into a logical order to create an initial draft of the selection summary.

Ask students to recall details for each word, expanding the concept.

Support:

Ask students to create magnet summaries from a partner’s notes.

Are there enough details in the notes to get the meaning of the passage and create a paragraph? Revise based on feedback.

Do this in reverse: give their partners magnet words. Could they write a paragraph with only the words without reading the passage? What should be added? Left out?

Require students to write a paragraph summary. Remind them that the main idea (thesis) sentence comes from all of the magnet words, and that the “four corners” are their subtopics. This basic paragraph would consist of five sentences and a closing sentence; however, you could require many detailed sentences about each subtopic.

STRATEGY FOUR: One Sentence Summary:

These condensed summaries work best after students have had some experience with paragraph summaries. 

To enforce brevity, have them write on 3 x 5 note cards.

 

Teacher Modeling:

· Read a selection aloud.

· Put the selection aside and list four or five ideas/words from it.

· Model how to combine these ideas/words into a one-sentence summary, deleting extraneous words

Support: Use these formulas for a one-sentence summary:

  

|  |  |(Contains a verb) Tell what is in the |  |

| Identify the topic being | Tell what it begins |middle-helpful words: covers, |Tell what it ends with. |

|summarized. |with |discusses, presents, continues with. | |

| To write a summary, | I begin by reading |As I continue to look for related |I merge them into a single |

| |carefully and jotting |ideas, |sentence. |

| |down key words. | | |

| |  | | |

| |  | | |

| | | | |

One-sentence Summary Frames for Common Text Structures:

|Description |1. A _______________ is a kind of ______________________that….. |

|Compare/Contrast |2.               x             and                  y               are similar in that they both…, |

| |but                        |

| |          x,           while               y              … |

|Sequence |3. _________ begins with…, continues with…., and ends with... |

|Problem/Solution |4. _________ wanted…, but…, so... |

|Cause/Effect |5. _________ happens because…. |

Include summaries in tests or assignments by listing three or four key concepts and requiring students to combine into a paragraph or one-sentence summary.

Require a one-sentence summary as an exit slip from class.

To activate background knowledge, call for a one-sentence summary on what they already know about a topic.

To narrow their thoughts to the gist of the text, have students write a telegram. Give them $1.50 to spend - each word costs $.10. Compete for the best message.

This type of summary may then be expanded as a topic sentence for a paragraph about the subject.

-----------------------

Teacher Modeling:

 

The teacher chooses a passage and designates stopping points for summary sketches.  Example: pg. 5, 9, 13, 16

 

Teacher reads the first part, and students draw a quick stick figure sketch.  Read the next part, sketch and continue to the end.

 

Students orally give a sentence for each sketch for practice, then write and place in paragraph form.

At given points in a selection (each paragraph or at obvious breaks in the piece) the students stop and sketch the key point of the piece so far.  After completing the reading, the students assemble their sketches in order and write a summary paragraph.

 

This encourages students to write summarizes in their own words and to include the most important points.

Support:

 

·ð Have students read entire text silently.

·ð Divide the text up so that each student has one or two paragraphs.

·ð Give each mportant points.

Support:

 

• Have students read entire text silently.

• Divide the text up so that each student has one or two paragraphs.

• Give each student an unlined piece of paper.  Ask them to reread their paragraph, then draw what their paragraph is mostly about.  Remind them they may use stick figures and a few words but no sentences.  Set a timer giving students about five to seven minutes.

• Attach the pictures in paragraph order on the board, and have students use their own words to tell what their paragraph was mostly about.  Encourage students to compose “get the gist” statements of ten words or less.

• From these paragraphs, have students compose a main idea statement.  Remind students their main idea statement needs to cover all of the information from the text.

• If using an EOC passage, have students identify why the other answer choices were not good main idea statements. (example:  this main idea statement only includes information about paragraph two and three but not the rest of the text).

Framed Sentence

 

   _______________________________________began with…, continued with…,    and ended with….

One-sentence Summary Frames for Common Text Structures

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